I did all the work myself except for at the very end we hired a painter
to do some interior work as we had to move, and time was running out.
Lots of weekends, holidays, 2 kids, wife through med school, full-time
jobs...but made a pile of money so it was worth it. Could not afford to
buy it back now as the prices have about doubled in 7 yr. People who
bought it from us sold it a year later for another $100k...oh well,
sigh... We moved to Houston, that house is outside Boston in Melrose,
which was the first "bedroom suburb" of Boston when they built a train
line out that way in the 1850s and many wealthy people moved there and
started building houses, which at the time were of the Victorian style.
As nice as mine is/was, there are others on the street and nearby that
were mansions. A friend around the corner has hers, which is still
mostly original inside except for one modern bathroom (the original is
still there with the old water box toilet) and sorta updated kitchen.
It is incredible -- some PBS drama was filmed in it. When I go back to
Boston I stay there, I get the bedroom with the turret and the original
silk lampshaded drop ceiling light!
Code, permits -- we don't need no stinkin codes and permits. I did get
busted at the very end (after 16 yr of work, with scaffolding on and
around the house for about 3 yr), dumpsters in the driveway, huge piles
of stuff for the trash (usually with a 6pack in a bag on top). The bldg
inspector drove by and saw the aforementioned painter's truck in the
driveway and came snooping, saw the last of my lighting being put in on
the porch, and busted me for no electrical permits. Hired an
electrician to finish up for $100, got my friend to prevail on the mayor
at the Irish coffee shop one morning (where all city business got done),
and all was well with the world. A neighbor across the street was an
electrician, he said my work was better than what he did. He was
redoing his about the same time, would ask me for pointers. I did all
the plumbing and heating system (twice, again after the boiler froze up
while we on vacation, -25F one night and the heating oil gelled up in
the tank in the basement -- like on our diesels! -- froze all the pipes).
Heights don't bother me, except going up and down the ladder so many
times. I was re-clapboarding the back, on a 40ft ladder, up/down about
300 times one Saturday to get them trimmed properly and nailed in the
peak. Sunday morning I got out of bed, promptly fell flat on my face as
my calf muscles were totally inop -- took me an hour or so to get them
loosened up then I hurt but was OK. Back on the ladder got them
stretched out. I did have one incident, I was up on the ladder putting
on a gutter, I heard this LOUD noise, looked up, and a B-52 came
screaming over the house at about 300 ft. It was airshow day at the
local Air Force Base, and this thing was on a low pass headed for the
field. Apart from about falling off the ladder, I almost lost control
of other functions as well. I swear I could see rivets on the wings.
I bought a copy of the National Elec Code and state plumbing code, they
are excellent references as it appears most plumbers and electricians
are not, um, the National Merit Scholar folks, so everything is spelled
out in simple detail with multitudinous examples. Kinda hard to go
wrong -- sh*t flows downhill, and black to black, white to white, and
green to ground. Everything else derives from that.
Labor of love, but the house should be good for another 100 yr. I heard
the latest owners painted it some sort of orange color last summer. Boo.
--R
Harry Watkins wrote:
Wow Rich, what a project, no wonder people want you for their homes. Was it
a one horse show? How did you handle the heights? Is this your current
home? What about permits and codes?
Its a beautiful House, thanks for sharing.
Harry
